New town recorder
for Lexington
50¢
VOL. 141
NO. 25
8 Pages
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Morrow County, Heppner, Oregon
Heppner Lions hold annual BBQ,
elect officers
Veronica Hess, Lexington
Town Recorder
The 2022-23 Heppner Lions Club officers are (L-R) Secretary
Steve Rhea, Sight and Hearing Chair Molly Rhea, President
Dan Van Liew, Vice President Dick Paris, Lion Tamer Jimmy
Fichter and Tail Twister Andrew Johnson.
The Heppner Lions
Club held their annual meet-
ing and steak barbeque last
week at the city park. The
club went over its activities
this past year and talked
about upcoming fundrais-
ers. The club holds various
money makers throughout
the year such as fireworks
sales, selling rodeo pro-
grams and a rifle raffle, with
the money used to support
the Lions Club Sight and
DEQ increases Port
of Morrow fine to
$2.1 million for
additional nitrate
violations
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Environmental
Quality last week issued a
revised penalty to the Port
of Morrow for additional
violations involving over-
application of wastewater
containing nitrogen to agri-
cultural fields in the Lower
Umatilla Basin, an area
with longstanding ground-
water contamination. DEQ
issued the original penalty
in January. The additional
violations increase the fine
by $800,000, from $1.3
million to $2.1 million.
The Port of Morrow is
one of many sources con-
tributing to nitrate contam-
ination in northern Morrow
and Umatilla counties—an
area known as the Lower
Umatilla Basin Ground-
water Management Area.
The primary source of
contamination in the area
(about 70 percent) is from
fertilizer use on irrigated
farmland, according to the
LUBGWMA Action Plan.
Additional contributors
are dairy and cattle farms
(about 20 percent), food
processing facilities like
the Port of Morrow that
reuse wastewater to irrigate
fields (about 5 percent), and
residential septic systems
and other sources (about 5
percent).
The Port of Morrow
collects wastewater from
food processors, storage
facilities and data centers
in its industrial park outside
Boardman. The port has a
DEQ water quality permit
that allows it to use the ni-
trogen-rich wastewater for
irrigation on nearby farms,
but the permit includes lim-
its on how much nitrogen
can be applied to the farm-
land and how much nitrate
and moisture can be present
in soil prior to applications.
The amended notice
cites the port for additional
occurrences of applying
wastewater containing ni-
trogen to fields that already
had too much existing ni-
trate or moisture in the soil.
Having too much nitrate or
moisture in the soil when
applying wastewater in-
creases the likelihood of
nitrates flowing down into
the groundwater rather than
remaining in the soil for
crops to use.
The port documented
additional violations to
DEQ in its annual report
and in email and phone
reports of non-compliance.
The additional violations
occurred between Novem-
ber 2020 to February 2021
and November 2021 to
February 2022.
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Fichter and Tail Twister
Andrew Johnson. Outgoing
president Al Scott also was
presented with a certificate
of appreciation for his work
the past year by incoming
President Dan Van Liew.
Anyone who is interest-
ed in joining the Heppner
Lions Club and contrib-
uting to the community’s
public service, is urged to
contact any of the club’s
officers for an application.
Local businesses
jump in to help
residents impacted
by water emergency
A group of local busi-
nesses immediately re-
sponded to a request for
assistance to help neigh-
bors, families and workers
throughout the communi-
ty impacted by the water
emergency recently de-
clared in Morrow County.
The companies, work-
ing under the guidance and
in close cooperation with
Morrow County Health De-
partment officials, include
Amazon Web Services,
Boardman Foods, Lamb
Weston, Calbee North
America, Threemile Can-
yon Farms and Tillamook
County Creamery Associ-
ation.
Debbie Radie, vice
president of operations for
Boardman Foods, one of
the organizers of the coali-
tion of business community
partners, shared some of
the immediate action steps
which include, among other
support:
-helping the county
health department to dis-
tribute safe drinking water,
-assisting well-owners
and residents in the process
of ordering and paying for
testing kits/ filtration sys-
tems, and
-providing information
on wells from the Oregon
Health Authority.
The 1200 well-owners,
and all community resi-
dents, are encouraged to
use community information
resources, including the
county’s website at www.
co.morrow.or.us and the
Morrow County Health
Department’s Facebook
page to get the most up-
to-date information about
available help during the
current emergency.
The City of Boardman
wants to remind residents
the tap water is safe to drink
and confirms that there is no
threat to public health from
the city’s drinking water
supply.
Starting June 20, 2022,
Boardman Foods will have
a person onsite (71320 E
Columbia Blvd, Boardman
OR 97818) to assist in both
English and Spanish and to
provide testing bottles and
a collection site for well
water testing, information
from Oregon Health Au-
thority on wells, as well as
support and information on
certified reverse osmosis
filters. Water must be col-
lected on the same day it is
brought in for testing. Test-
ing is available Mondays,
Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Those interested in the
onsite services provided at
Boardman Foods can reach
out to contact@boardman-
foods.com.
Beginning June 23,
the Boardman Chamber of
Commerce (101 Olson Rd,
Boardman OR 97818) will
also support the community
offering the same services
as available onsite at Board-
man Foods. For information
regarding services located
at the Chamber, please
contact info@boardman-
chamber.org.
“This is an issue that
affects all of our neighbors;
local businesses are ready
to serve and help,” said
Radie.
For more information
about the water emergen-
cy, contact the Morrow
County Health Department
in Heppner at 541-676-
5421 during business hours,
call 541-256-0110 for after
hours, weekends or holi-
days.
E L E VAT E YO U R A DV E N T U R E
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541-989-8221
ext 204
NEW
2022
FOR
Outgoing Heppner Lions Club President Al Scott (left) is pre-
sented with a certificate of appreciation for his work this past
year by incoming President Dan Van Liew.
Hearing programs. The club
will pay for examinations,
glasses and hearing aids for
those in need who cannot
afford them. The club also
gives an annual scholarship
to local seniors.
Club officers elected
for this year were Sec-
retary Steve Rhea, Sight
and Hearing Chair Molly
Rhea, President Dan Van
Liew, Vice President Dick
Paris, Lion Tamer Jimmy
The Town of Lexington
has a new recorder, and her
name is Veronica Hess.
She and her husband Keith
recently moved to Lexing-
ton. The couple have two
children Bradley, 5, and
Camille, 3. Hess has an
Associate of Science degree
in Business Administration
and is a licensed and bond-
ed Notary Public for State
of Oregon.
“I am very thankful to
be working at Lexington’s
Town Hall and for the op-
portunity to make a positive
impact and help the com-
munity, while furthering
my career in business ad-
ministration,” Hess told the
Heppner Gazette-Times.
She said her goal is to be
readily available for the
town people and the com-
munity when and where
needed. “I want to focus on
improvements around town
and future grant projects
so that Lexington gets the
consideration and attention
that it deserves. My hopes
for my role as Town of Lex-
ington Recorder is to keep
people informed on current
events, to get involved in
the local communities and
helping in any way I can.
I want to keep Lexington
an enjoyable and desirable
place to live or start a busi-
ness,” she added.
Hess says in her spare
time she enjoys cooking,
gardening and spending
time outdoors. “My favorite
thing to do on the week-
ends is spend time with my
family, have picnics, visit
local parks and go to the
movie theater and arcade,”
she adds. Hess’s first town
meeting was June 14.
In other business at last
week’s meeting the council
heard a report from mayor
Juli Kennedy who said
community members are
planning several activities
including a bingo night.
The first bingo night will
be June 30 at the town fire-
hall at 6 p.m. Kennedy also
reported that a community
block party is being planned
for the later in the summer.
C Street, the street between
the Rebekah Hall and the
restaurant will be blocked
off and there will be food
and music. “We want to get
some fun things going in
Lexington,” Kennedy said.
It was also announced
that the town hall would
have new expanded office
hours now from 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. Monday through
Thursday and 8 a.m. to 12
noon on Friday.
The council also heard
from councilmember Katie
Imes who gave an update
on grant applications for the
town. A $10,000 grant was
recently received from the
Willow Creek Economic
Development Group and
that money will be matched
with $10,000 from the town
and used to improve prop-
erty behind town hall by
leveling, sod and a sprinkler
system. Fencing will also
be added if there is enough
funds, Imes said. Imes said
she would also find out
soon if the town received
a $17,000 grant applied
for through Amazon Web
Services, which operates
the large data centers in
north county. That money
would be used to upgrade
technology at town hall
and make the meetings,
for instance, remote. Imes
says she personally prefers
in-person meetings, but the
new technology would be
good when conferring with
the town’s engineering firm,
Anderson and Perry out of
LaGrande where they could
attend meetings virtually.
Imes also spoke of a
possible Transportation
Growth Management Grant
that would provide cities
with money for downtown
improvements. She said the
grants cover such things as
sidewalks, trees and other
amenities which will help
promote business in a town.
When asked if the town was
at a disadvantage because
the main street is a state
highway, Imes said, to the
contrary that sometimes
helps because the state likes
to see their rights-of-way
kept up and improved. The
town has a Transporta-
tion System Plan that Imes
has been reviewing, which
guides how the streets will
be developed and also al-
low the town to submit
for grants to put together
a downtown improvement
plan. “It’s worthwhile look-
ing at this,” she said.
In other business the
council heard a report from
Karie Walchli who is con-
tracted with the county to
provide tourism enhance-
ment services. She gave a
presentation on her efforts
to educate the public about
tourism.
for more
information
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